The Nominees

This Too Shall Pass

Milena Busquets

Translated from the Spanish by Valerie Miles

2018 Longlist

Blanca is forty years old and motherless. Shocked at the unexpected loss of the most important person in her life, she suddenly realises that she has no idea what her future will look like.

To deal with her dizzying grief and confusion, Blanca turns to sex, her dearest friends, her closest family, and a change of scenery. Leaving Barcelona behind, she returns to her mother’s former home in Cadaqués on the coast, accompanied by her two sons, two ex-husbands, and two best friends, with plans to meet her married lover. Though she is haunted by both the past and the present, Blanca embarks on a new sort of journey alongside those she loves most, one of resilience and hope, teaching her to live on with the knowledge that even the most devastating pain will eventually subside.

Wryly funny, wistfully romantic, grief-stricken, and raw, This Too Shall Pass is at once an unforgettable meditation on loss and on love, and a timeless story of what it means to find a way forward and to truly, happily live on one’s own terms.

About the author

Milena Busquets was born in Barcelona where she attended the Lycée Français de Barcelone. She obtained a degree in archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, began work in publishing, and has since founded her own publishing house. She currently works as a journalist and as a translator.

(from publisher)

Librarian’s comments

This book was one of Glamour’s Top 10 Books of the Year. A lively, sexy, honest, and moving novel set on the idyllic Spanish coast, about a woman facing life in her forties.

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